Valued Education...

Judging that I really did not know what this course was about until the first day of classes my expectations and goals for this class have changed as well. I am very interested in the topic of “rhetoric of resistance;” all forms of rhetoric interest me for many reasons. As I stated before in my last blog that I plan on becoming an attorney and eventually a judge – rhetoric and the use of it is the basis for defining justice in the United States presently. Having a knowledge of all forms of rhetoric are very important to me. What intrigued me the most is the idea of study rhetoric of different non-westernized cultures. Being a Rhetoric and Writing major tends to mean that we study rhetoric from its alleged “origin;” we study Socrates and Plato. These readings give a theoretical framework to how rhetoric was originally defined and used, but rhetoric like all language has evolved over time and so should the curriculum in which it is taught. With that being said I hope to study all aspects of rhetoric from different cultures in all its forms. I would hope to use analysis, critical reading and response, practicing the creation of autoenthnographic texts and more. It is hard for me to decipher a particular topic because I believe it is the culmination of all of these topics and ideas that will give me a greater understanding of rhetoric and rhetoric of resistance.

The Pratt article was very useful and informative in providing a framework for what we will be discussing over the semester. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being the most frustrating) I would rank the Pratt article at about a 3. It took me some time to read through the article it was pretty dense but it was still readable. I don’t mind reading dense texts if they are crucial to my understanding of the course material and learning. I always enjoy a class that challenges me but challenge can come in many different forms. Challenging does not necessarily mean reading a lot of dense texts but maybe less dense texts with challenging ideas or ideologies. I value both forms of reading and in either I think a detailed class discussion is useful.

Other then that I just think that it is important as always to remind professors that most undergraduates have more than one class. In the writing program that means multiple classes of this caliber demanding dense readings and response at the same time. In preparing any course or course load I think that is an essential reminder for any professor.

In Response to Pratt...

I’m a little unclear on what exactly a genre of resistance is. But I do think that Pratt introduces the idea of resistance through communication verbal v. non-verbal, and written v. non-written and how those texts work to form societies “Accepted westernized history.” She explores this idea through the analysis of autoenthnographic texts. These texts are those written by someone within a culture that seeks to analyze their placement in the world as a culture against how someone outside of their culture places them. There are many purposed of this genre to not only combat a westernized view of non westernized cultures but also to show how history falsely represents non-written cultures.

Pratt contextualizes Guaman Poma’s project through the theory of contact zones. She defines each picture as a cultural representation of its infrastructures and social placement of sexes, religions, and how symbolism can be more descriptive then pages and pages of text. Many cultures wrote their histories in books, and historical text but Pratt aimed to represent the idea that non-written history can be just as effective and any other type of written history.

The most important point that Pratt makes in this article is that history can be recorded and written or not-written and any form. A cultures history does not lose its significance because it is not recorded in textual format. Another point that Pratt makes is what contact zones actually are. She begins her piece with an example of contact zones with her son and children and ends her piece with a contact zone within her classroom. She also aims to point out the positive and negative effects of contact zones. Contact zones can provoke meaningful conversation and argumentative ones. But contact zones can also get to the derivative of problems that have been continually overlooked because it’s easier to do so.

I would like to discuss Pratt’s discussion of Guaman Poma’s and its effectiveness. It would also be effective to discuss Pratt’s definition of “safe houses” and if such a space could actually exist.

Privilege & Pain

I walked into the eight-story high hospital and the smell almost knocked me over. What kind of medicine do they practice here? I feel like that make more people sick then they help. I was quickly quieted as we began out ascent up the stairs. The babies were on the eighth floor. As we continued to climb I realized the smell must have something to do with the lack of air conditioning in the summer heat. By the fifth flight of stairs everyone was panting; the heat was unbearable. The smell was beginning to permeate through my open pores; I began to dry heave. There was no ventilation and all of the windows were bolted shut and covered in bars. We climbed and climbed. I hoped with every bone in my body that at the top of the stairs there would be pink and blue painted walls, smiling babies, and fans at the least.

When I reached the top of the stairs; I was wrong. The babies were screaming and many of them were deformed. My face fell into my hands as my hands began to overflow. I wanted to scream! Where are the nurses? I frantically looked around; I spotted two on the entire floor. Neither of them spoke English. They were walking from crib to crib, uninterested, taking bottles and placing the same ones in the next babies’ mouth. I couldn’t believe my eyes; my heart stopped. I turned to look at the other volunteers; their eyes were abounding as well.

-Can I hold them? Someone asked.

It was translated into Romanian so the nurse could understand.

-No! She shook her head several times at us and walked away.

-We’ve come to visit the babies every day we have been here. Some days they let us hold them, and some days they say no. No one else holds them. The only human contact they receive is from volunteers and the nurses when they are changing them.

-Can I at least change their diapers? A woman with tears in her eyes anxiously looked around.

-No all of the babies are on a strict schedule. They are changed twice a day the same time of day. The hospital does not have enough diapers to change them more than…

-So they just sit in their dirty diapers?! She screamed.
She nodded.

-But that is why we come. If we can’t do anything else we can hold them, and help them hold their bottles.

I looked around all the babies seemed so young. They had to have been less than six months, and their bodies were twisted and mangled. It looked like their bones couldn’t figure out how to grow the right way. I walked towards a crib. It was a girl. I was scared if I touched her that he bones would fall apart.

I softly grazed her hand.

-How old is she?

-She is actually a year old. But her hands are so frail she can’t hold her bottle to feed herself and the nurses will not feed the babies.
My knees tightened. I looked around and saw a bottle lying in her crib. Her head was lying beside the nipple of the bottle. It looked as though she had scooted her body to the bottle to let the milk drip into her mouth…

I turned around and saw my father quickly turn the corner into the hallway.

¬¬- Mom, where is he going?

¬-There was a very sick baby over there. The baby is dying from a disease. Your father went over to look at the baby. I think he just needed some air.

I ran down the hallway to find my father weeping in the corner. I slowly approached him.

-That baby is green, Alonna. A green baby…

I quickly walked around the corner, but as I turned to see the baby… my feet stopped.

I turned to go back into the other room.

As we descended the eight floors of stairs I realized how privileged I really am. Each of those babies is an orphan. It was cheaper for their parents to sell them to the government then to take care of them. The country of Romania has very few health regulations; therefore this “hospital” will never incur a penalty for its harsh treatment of human beings.

There are millions of people on Earth. Some are privileged and some are not and many have no control over which country and to what family they are born into or discarded from.
That experience changed my life. I could have never imagined that human beings, infants could actually suffer that much and it be legal. Children’s bodies were actually deformed from lack of being held and nurtured. Going to Romania helped me to realize how privileged I am to live in America. More importantly it helped me to center my life. From that moment on I knew that I wanted to help people. It didn’t matter how or what are or country. What matter is that I didn’t take the privileges I had for granted.

I was 16 then and now at 20 I still believe in the spirit of service. Throughout my life I will continue to service others in my career and life. I plan to be an attorney and later a judge. I have chosen this because having the knowledge that service is needed is important but also understanding that power and education can sway the amount of influence I have on the world is also significant. In every government there are laws and institutions in place to harm and prevent its citizens from a prosperous life. The only way to change those laws is by being a law maker.

I also hope that as class such as this one will help me gain a greater understanding of human beings of all cultures and how they relate and communicate with one another. Communication is pertinent in service and in law; I hope to take the skills learned in this class and apply them to my future aspirations.